WARFRAME - The True Nature of the Void Entity and The Chains of Harrow? 

"Albrech Entrati to his dying days..." hm. In a zariman tablet Wally questions what happened to Albrecht so we are unsure if he is dead, his daughter seems to believe he is in the void too. Also another thing: just noticed how the Red veil insanity on the Steel maridian ship is the same as adults' insanity on Zariman

That effect used for when the Warden and Wally disappear looks an awful lot like the radiation gore effect. Either A) there is some connection or B) it is just DE saving time and money.

This video has shifted my entire perspective on the story, wow

I thought of the Lotus being taken by wally as well. Like she's been trapped in her chair in her chair for even longer than us. Void exposure is toxic to Sentients. But she actually has het own form of void powers now. Oh and I think the reason why Ballas has a Duviri version now, is because at the end of the New War, Ballas his dead body got sucked into the void portal. Just like how our dying body got thrown into the void by Ballas.

I, personally, am entirely happy to work with void daddy for whatever -nerfarious- definitely _beneficient_ ends hes seeking... so long as he gives me more power and shiny things.

During the final part of the new war, just before the lotus does the creepy smile, if you look at her hand you will notice a void effect. Its easy to miss, and honestly i think your graphic settings could cause it not to appear, but its there. Pretty sure she struck a deal with wally to save us from the situation. Ya know, fighting directly next to the sun, on a vessel with a declining orbit. I think he pops up and offers people a choice during critocal moments, as he did with us on the zariman. He was like ill save you from all this but you have to shake my hand. We did and now the lotus has. Edit: also when the wall comes in he is saying vome fass xata etc. I subscribe to the theory dominus thrax is rell. His emotions literally change duviri, rell had problems with emotions. Dsiege im not sure if you checked out the lore fragments in duviri, but they have stories of islands that thrax set adrift. Farming island with blood from the soil, school island where a bunch of creepy smile dopplegangers showed up, etc. I think duviri is the last bastion in the void, and the void is slowly but surely encroaching on it. Taking one island at a time until nothing is left. The lighthouse keeper was crushed by falling chains, and before he died he said he saw a hand slowly approaching everyday. The hand was missing a finger.

When you run across Duviri, the children tend to say the darndest things... little rhymes and songs... I overheard this during the Envy Spiral: "Something's watching through the window, Watching you and watching me... wants what we have. wants to *BE* us! we know that can never be." "Something's waiting, getting closer, watching, waiting for its day, Something needy, cruel and greedy....keep that hungry thing at bay!"

See this is why I love this game, Warframe may have one of the best Sci-Fi lore ever if they keep on focusing more on Wally and the mysterious aspect of the void.

I feel that us tenno will end up alone against it all in the long run.

It's a cool ideia to see us playing as a doppelganger of ourselfs, DE loves the idea of changing the rules of the game and the player

Another small connection I made that actually ties into the War Within. It might be a stretch but there's been a lot of mention of a 'Wall of bone' in regards to the Man in the Wall. Well in the War Within, the Golden Maw is swimming in a large pile of bones. Granted that's not a wall per say and it could be nothing, but it's something I noticed upon replaying it recently.

I really like the chains of harrow quest and tbh I felt a great personal resonance when I played it as someone with autism which rell is implied to have I really felt a lot of that same resonance with this video and your theory very very well done sir!

This is probably one of the best videos you have done regarding the actual lore of Warframe. DE should push this video if they ever want to bring people back to their game. I think you should definetly do more, like videos on the views we have had on the void itself or how about the derelict or the orokin? But this video is amazing, very good job

Maybe he's just smiling because he sees, that we are indeed following down the path he saw before us. Or maybe we're one of the tenno that despite the odds ended up succeeding where we were supposed to fail.

To me this reaffirms the concept of the Man in the Wall as God, the Void as the Holy Spirit, and the Tenno Jesus, both entirely man and entirely God. Warframe plays with these concepts a lot more, such as Transference and Eternalism, but at the core I think that Trinity remains. Maybe because of this I am drawn towards the Man in the Wall. I have never, in my entire playthrough, seen him as an enemy. I remember when Lotus left I was comfortable following and trusting him without question. I think his plan and unorthodox means of executing it are meant to mimic that of the real God, and like the real God, these methods cause people to doubt both his existence and intentions.

Very, very good video sir!! I have long thought about the handshake that started everything. It was the Lotus' right hand, attached to the Wally version of us just like it is attached to the Drifter's right hand. In addition, if you watch the ending of the New War again, it looks like Wally absorbed itself into her left hand, smoke trailing from it as she shakes it off. When we carry her back to her room, the first thing she does is look at that hand, kinda favoring it as she grabs her arm with it, looking unsure of herself. Of course, that handshake was before she received that hand chop from Ballas, meaning she has been "infected" by Wally for a while...centuries. Lotus...is a mimic. She can be anyone at anytime and, if her initial voyage through the void was her first encounter with Wally, then perhaps her deal was to have "children" again, in exchange for Wally being able to travel within her. Lastly, the New War trailer has a different scenario than what we actually play. This is also the case from the last TennoCon's Duviri demo, where the Drifter picks up her hand instead of it attaching. Could this be intentional moves by DE?

Really great video! It feels like it's all coming together.

I'm a big believer of the "Lotus is Possessed" theory. because WHY would she SMILE LIKE THAT after seeing that thing

"Speak" "listen" ".... between the dust to the Void" I love that that line

i think DE will never reveal what or who is the man in the wall. The character itself was meant to be eldritch and a lovecraftian kind of entity. Shrouded in eternal mysteries, never to be understood its goal or the point of it existence. Its just...there, and it exist, and we dont know what, why or how. Perhaps he existence might be way beyond our human comprehensiveness, and thats what makes The Man In The Wall so interesting yet haunting. He makes us questions everything.

My takeaway from Chains of Harrow is that it was Rell who was bound there, but he was being possessed by Wally, who was using him to reach out and finally break through from the Void into our world via helping him. Albrecht, Rell, Lotus and the Operator all share a connection of not only making direct contact with Wally, but also in that their memories and connections are exposed and exploited during times of immense importance/stress to achieve results that cause dramatic shifts in the world around them. Each of us effectively becoming sleeper agents to be activated when needed to cause the balance of things to change, and bring our world that much closer to the Void.

the connection to watchers island and chains of harrow staggered me when i read it, the world of duviri appears to be some sort of twisted mirror of our own and somehow vaguely connected to all the tenno if Rell somehow manifested there as Garmi, and if i interpreted what we were being told/shown, Dominus Thrax is a reflection of our tenno, and since we were the one that made the deal/did it first it would make sense that we would think ourselves superior to the others no matter how small, thusly why Thrax acts how he does, and if that is correct the entities tied to his emotions could be major influences from our life/past that through life experience led to how those aspects developed and the void has given them all life and the true paradox is that our drifter exists as a whole with emotions all in control while Thrax appears as a more childish part of us that wants to be in control of everything which may relate to us making the deal with Wally giving us and thusly Thrax that sense of superiority, and doesnt want to share it and thus because if his childish his emotions are out of control allowing them to manifest as individuals within the duviri void-scape while still being able to influence Thrax and be controlled by him when needed, and this would also explain why Rell only manifested in duviri as Garmi, his other emotions had become tied to Harrow as a result of the transference loop and may also be in part to him being on the autism spectrum and not properly being able to express his emotions thusly a more idealised version of himself being Garmi entered duviri when he dreamt, this could also be why Rell wasnt as easy to manipulate by Wally as he wasnt able to be maniplulated be his emotions thusly able to see Wally's offer for what it truly was and thusly why he decided to fight back against Wally, at this point i think you get where im going as even while writing this im starting to feel my brain melt so ill leave it here

There are many ways to read the Warframe story as it's all vague enough to let the mind wanders, but some ideas do come back often enough to seem "clearer" than others. Enjoyed your takes as much as last times, and welcome back.

the harrow quest and red tap tap is giving me goosbumps all the time is so crazy-

I've always thought that everyone in duviri are some result of the people who were on the zariman, the drifter had saved them by creating duviri. If rell is the correlate to dominus, it would explain why dominus has to be manually influenced by the emotional spirals of duviri, to help calm his overstimulation. The word "Thrax" also refers to the ancient land of Thrace, where Orpheus is from, a hero who had superhuman senses for music and sound. I think the man in the wall held the real zariman in the void and created duviri around it, to save everyone as part of the deal with us. This allowed the man in the wall to project a second zariman back out of the void as if nothing had happened (except for all the death and stuff) where margulis founded the tenno and created the second dream etc. Dominus trapping the drifter in duviri wasn't part of the plan, because if the man in the wall and the Dealmaking Tenno are one, Thrax trapping the drifter would have to be equivalent to rell trapping the void demon in Harrow. The man in the wall being released from the chains of Harrow is what set in motion the start of the new war, by sowing the seed in Lotus's mind that she isn't the real margulis, and so that all leads to her hand being chopped off and falling into duviri to allow the drifter to overpower dominus.

I love it when games have an overall story developing in the background in these quests.

Thank you for this video dude !

It's so good that you're back, and really made me change how I see the story.

Hey man, I’ve been playing since 2013 and I have to say yours has become my favorite channel by far. So many channels are about playing the game, yours is ABOUT the game in such an effective and gripping way. I myself am a lore whore with warframe, so I appreciate all the detail and background you put into your videos. I always love how your theories are very well grounded without being sensationalist. Love the tone. Can’t recommend you enough to others. Keep up the phenomenal work! I’m enjoying diving into your catalog.

i forgot your channel existed, and now this got recommended to me, I'm genuinely so excited to sit here and listen, i already know its gonna be incredible

I swear these videos always come in whenever I feel bored about the game. The storylines Future is extremely exciting. My guess is for DE's plan for this Man in the wall story, is probably to do 1-2 more small story quests with the man in the wall uniquely in them for some integral way. Moving into the next big story line quest being about the Lotuses Visions / backstory besides the stuff we already know. This all leading up to the next big New War style quest being about figuring out who is the man in the wall.

Amazing video. The new quests that were showed at TennoCon had me going down a rabbit hole of all the lore. You realize how deep the story really does go.

these are some incredible video essays. incredibly well put togehter. im incredibly impressed.

Mind blowing as always. I don't have anything more insightful to say as of now; just dropping a like and a comment to help appease the algorithm. Happy to have you back, Siege

Amazing video , thank you . i think we will get some answers or more questions in tennocon .

Your one of the best putting warframe out there

glad you are back !!! great vid

These videos are very well done. I adore your content!

You know as someone who has read Lord of the Mysteries, that ending sequence where you said that anyone could be potentially compromised, it really reminded me of one of the antagonists since that is a constant fear in that book.

An awesome video as always. A lot to think about. And speculate. But I just had some really insane idea. As you were playing video from Chains of Harrow and I was listening at the voice of Rell's mother... I got a feeling that she is speaking in a very simmilar manner like Mathila in Duviri. (The joy character)... Anyway.... can't wait for another video...

Ever since learning about the Zariman accident, I theorized that Void rifts causing enemies to attack one another isn't because they were driven mad. It's because they were replaced.

Bro this is the only warframe content I neeeeed. So glad you're back 🤧

God damnit man you officially gave me goosebumps with this video and i love it. The man in the wall is my favorite force in the game he is possibly one of the most awesome depictions of the eldritch horror trope in recent gaming and i love every small morsel of information we find out about his plan and you good sir have contributed to this as well please keep up thr good work.

Yup. Instant sub+bell. This is THE highest quality theory-crafting I've seen in this community.

Cool video and interesting theories!

I see the Drifter as the Rell of his timeline, with Dominus and his Dax being Tenno equivalents, and Teshin the man-in-the-wall stand-in. It's an alternative timeline built through parallel. One in which Drifter isn't saved from the trauma, but gets to rely on a father figure. Everything about the lore and nature of Duviri suggests that it never featured any of the other children, as only the Drifter survived. Even the holdfasts aren't part of the Drifter's native reality, but rather those who lived through the catastrophe on the Operator's side of the timeline.

Love your videos

I think the man in the wall has to follow the void logic of emotions and thought manifesting things. So in the Chains of Harrow quest, because we (the tenno, lotus and palladino) expected Rell, it looked like Rell (at least if it is really Wally and not the real Rell). All the other times we see it in a quest, it is in moments where the Tenno is deeply connected with themself (like in the War Within). To be honest, I don't think the Man in the Wall has too much agency in its actions, and I would even go so far as to say that it is not really an individual entity, but more like a half-being that represents the void itself. I think a good analogy are the old gods from the lovecraftian mythos, as they also act as individuals, but without any self-awareness, and are bound to their "path" of what they are supposed to be. Also, concerning the question of Albrecht Entrati, it is well wihtin the knowledge about the void that we gain on the zariman that actually both came back (the question about whether tha father or the mother survives). That could also be why palladino is acting so strange: It might be stretch, but due to how close we came to the void in the chains of harrow quest, that might just be a kind of uncertainty of which reality we are in: the one where it is rell or the one where it is wally who contacted us.

First 40k with Eldritch Concepts of Being, then Lancer with Eldritch Math, and now Warframe with Eldritch Biology. What's next, Eldritch Language Arts? Wait, that's just Cthulhu... At this rate, I'll be able to take Eldritch School Classes.

God I love your videos man. Thank you for this blessed view you have

I have the presumption that wally was actually about to escape from rell and paladino simply got tenno within wally's sight to divert his attention away from red veil. The fact that rell was actually "tired" points in this direction.

Thank you for giving me a nightmare fuel knowing that I now can't tell who I am playing as. Amazing lore video!

The more you stare inside abyss, abyss stares back at you

He is back!

Thank you so much for the vid.

I'm just happy that even after the New War, there's still aspects of warframe lore yet to be explored, leaves a lot of room for future content.

Ya know, that part you mentioned about the Lotus smiling? I remember that part when finishing the quest and I remember thinking to myself, "well that's weird" LOL. Of course, I got myself distracted and forgot all about it, until now. Man, every time I watch one of your videos you just end up smacking my brain cells around. 😂 WF lore has always had me intrigued, I definitely look forward to your thoughts, great video.

I think "the New War" and "the Duviri paradox" were a pretty good payoff to the story setup so far

In the same way rell could be analogous to dominus thrax, similar but not the same, kullervo is almost analogous to ordis, both killed a blue skinned despot only to be tortured for effectively eternity only for the drifter/operator to help redeem them :)

Really glad to see you back man; I've been a long time viewer and was missing your breakdowns. Will you be attending Tennocon this year?

When I drank the kuva at the quest instead, space-dad told me "what took you so long?" the ramifications are now a little more...daunting.

So we went from space ninjas too kids with ptsd too kids with ptsd and derealization, sounds like warframe lore to me

I believe it's quite simple, Wally is everywhere and can be everything, and I think that's what he wants. He wants that cycle to continue. If he wanted to destroy everything he could've, but he doesn't. I think he wants us to continue as we are, yet he wants his influence to remain. Notice our doppelganger always says "Remember kiddo" it's like he is craving attention, and doesn't want us to forget his role in the world. Idk just a my own theory. Btw your voice in the end sounds like Wally was talking through you lol.

I recall hearing elsewhere that the infestation seems to have some sort of fear of the Void - it could be possible that.. instead of the infestation having direct relation to the Void - the infestation, having its own sort of hive-mind... recognizes that the Void has its own sort of reach, control, hive-mind like behavior (or perhaps more single-mind taking over). Wouldn't it be interesting if the final way to defeat the void entity, is related to recruiting the wild infestation? It's also interesting how Deimos, the place where Albrecht's Laboratory is located, the place with the closest connection between the Void and the world of dust.. seemingly has a layer of infestation around it. This could be a sign of the infestation being an outstretch of the Indifference... or... the Infestation could very well be the force helping to hold the Indifference back. Also worth noting about Vome and Fass and their eternal conflict in Deimos. Order and Chaos respectively... Could one personality be the infestation itself, while the other is the Void Entity trying to take control of the infestation?

The thing behind Rell I guess he was chained too looks like the mother and others from Deimos that come out of those tentacles pod things. I’m surprised I haven’t seen more people talk about that

the sound effect on this quest scared the crap out of me as i had good headphones

Honestly, now a couple of stuff make sense to me on why the New War was like... Skipping stuff... So now that you mention the possesion i was wondering if we have been possesed multiple times during the course of the war and more stuff keep happening, the Zariman is a good example of that, same as the Duviri when we were cast out by Ballas

9:24 I knew it was coming and it still made my hair stand up 😭

I was just doing a Zariman bounty and Quinn said "I percieve two void entities in You." Never gave it a thought before this vid. Now im staring at Zariman walls

I did not think this is we're we were going

Paladino is trustworthy. She didn't lie once in the context of the quest, and is willing to help us. She didn't "free" the man in the wall, she freed Rell from his permanent position as the jailer for Wally. She said it was our job now, it is the least we could do for Rell after how we treated him on the Zariman.

Wow there's alot of interesting stuff happening here

I THOUGHT OF THIS QUEST when I did the war story. The fact we see the man on the wall before we can interact with him and all he does is tap the glass...

Now I need to re re replay all the quests

I have to say, I'm pleasantly surprised and honoured to have been given special mention on this video's topic. Thank you for that, and I think the video was quite good! Following on Wally's disappearing act, that's not how he used to work. Prior to an update, I forget which one, Wally would stick around only as long as you actually kept a line of sight with him, which would result in many instances of folks seeing someone appearing in the peripheral of their vision for a split second, but looking back and not seeing anything there. Similarly, any time folks got a good look at wally then decided to walk away, if they turned back for any reason, he'd be gone. That 'poof' effect he does now, and disappearing on a timer, I think, was to reduce the creep-out and horror factors of the game.

You can hear a rap tap tap sound when starting the 2nd area in the Munio Entrati mirror defense

I wonder if the operator is the other to the drifter? The drifter is within the void, as he says to the operator in The New War, he is “the one who never got out of this mess” (quote was something similar) so maybe when the zariman entered the void (and everyone else that ever enters the void) that itself was what created a doppelgänger of the zariman and all of its passengers and that ship was the one to leave the void? Now the remaining questions would be what caused it to leave the void and how does wally fit in, id say that wally is what actually creates the doppelgängers as he is obviously connected to the operator, entrati, rell, lotus. Using this im suggesting that he creates the doubles by somehow merging his void body/ spirit with our corporeal one, making a complete copy of the original person but with a unseverable connection to the void (or at least to him), allowing wally to interact with them in a limited way but as he has no influence on the solar system he cannot take advantage of the double as easily and must taunt and attempt to coerce them mentally, the tenno are the only instance of a further connection to wally through the handshake/ deal we make and rell choosing to outright fight against him by trapping himself and wally in the somatic link (i think its called that). which gives us our void powers(drifter only gets his powers after somehow connecting with operator in TNW). Im also suggesting that wally sent the operators zariman out of the void because he finally achieved an actual foothold of the physical world

After this video I took a look at the Harrow scene in Captura and it's interesting if you look at what Harrow is viewing. That source of the light at Harrow looks awfully like an eye.

An interesting twist would be that Wally isn't the antagonist, but rather a being preparing us for something far more dangerous, tho his methods are suspicious due to his alien nature. Might sound lazy, but given that he helps us in many ways, despite it seeming like it's only for his own benefit, his "deal" with us may be meant to get us ready for something more.

the void seems to be something like "xen" from half life, a dimensional 0 sum point where every interstellar traveler ends up being if use dimensional travelling of space/time, and the man in the wall seem to be some kind of Gman

Very comprehensive. I wonder if the void was capable of forming anything before Albrecht entered.

Dominus Thrax could be the Rell's Drifter rather than Rell himself

Saw the void entity on my ship yesterday. Been quite a while.

Also ballas calls us "devis from that place" if this theory is right it would shift the meaning of that, as in the tenno from the void, not the tenno from the zariman accident which I have always interperated it as.

Thought I had a semi firm grasp on the lore now I'm more confused then ever nice video tho

I don't think wally is really sinister at all, he just wants something fun to watch and his existence tends to break people who aren't cool with the universe being awake and uncaring

Warframe really knows how to do cosmic horror

More questions than answers, my brain can handle that

Do you think the infestation if aware of the man in the wall? the seat in the orbiter talks to us, as a demon. do you think they could have seen the man in the wall from the times we entered the void for derrilects and stuff?

Maybe the man in the wall is a web of consciousness, like the vail in Destiny 2 or something similar.

everything aside, The mission where you retrieve the donda used to be a lot scarier in the old corpus tileset.

It's kind of sad tbh, knowing the Captain Vor's story never ended

The Void and everything relating to it is as wibbly wobbly as real physics.

You know I was meditating and a thought came to me afterward. Just like how we humans are essentially consciousness/spirit with a body. I made the connection that in Warframe the Tenno are essentially the Void and thus we are also the man in the wall. He could be us having a human experience and then boom I see your video and it pretty much says what have been thinking. Plus isn't Steve into eastern culture and mysticism?

I hope they don't outright tell us what he is, but that they heavily imply it with a simple "...I. Am... I... Am." with the seeming entirety of the void(or the rift between The Zariman and Duviri) behind him when someone inevitably asks "...what are you?"

We are BOTH. The tenno AND the man in the wall. The 10-0 child AND the doppelganger. The man in the wall is inside us and once exposed to the indifference we cannot escape. Algorithm fuel.

I love how you go deep into the lore But for my theory now with duvari is rell and dominex were fighting, sure wally was there, but more of an observer role Since for a while i tough Rell was guarding him from us, but the war with in quest is still a lorehole, i belive he could always apear on our ship, he probbly has But used the release of rell as a perfect moment to distract us and belive we freed him, when he was never captured in the first place He is way to powerful for a singel tenno to hold him and with all the events that happened in the quest it wouldn't suprise me if he shows up to every tenno or at least be seen by them, we the player tenno are his favorite wich is why we have managed to get this far, we made the deal and we see him the most, taking the alberts words, no one else saw him except me, could apply to us Another thing is he is never angry with us, mischievous sure, but he is always smiling at us, wich why it confirms to me the child from duvari and rell fought for control, but wally didnt, looking at teshions speech in circuit, he is making an army of the angels to attack, but just like the mechs, despite being powerful, they are not efficient, wich is where we come into play We the tenno will be responsible for the ease of access to the solar system for him and i am not sure if we will be on his side or not Wich makes me wonder if we will be like kahl, captured by narmer, but then freed himself, i absolutely see a massive new war like quest, where we fight our former tenno and the player tenno being the only free one or be able to save other tenno from his control, maybe like how gurdians manage to control the light and dark, we manage to obtain a new power source and a "new" god helps us That god being the first one that imprisoned wally in the void It's still something i am theorizing about

While I might not be right, the man in the wall gives me a similar feel to Happy Chaos from the Guilty Gear story, some guy who's incredibly smart and gifted taps into a space between worlds and dimensions and uses it to become all powerful and after a while(thousands of years of while) shows themselves to humanity again to offer a sort of bargain. For Happy Chaos he gives humans magic in return for entertainment, but the Mitw seems to give us void powers(basically void magic lets be honest) in return for, something, probably either loyalty or us doing dirty work for him. Additionally the name "The Man in the Wall" makes him seem mortal and trapped, that despite his seemingly god-like power he's still mortal, still vulnerable, and still possibly trapped in the void. And maybe he's trying to get us to get him out of the void, like we did for Parvos, maybe even having his hands in getting parvos out of the granum void as a sort of test in order to see if we can release him, and now knowing we can he's going full throttle, trying to start a war with the lotus because maybe he knows the lotus would have told us what he is planning so he has to take out the lotus first in order to lead us to setting him free. Just a few thoughts, again I'm probably wrong as I haven't been doing any lore hunting of my own but I still thought it might be worth it to share y'know

This reminds me of bloodborne. think of the man in the wall as an eldrich being and the tenno as a baby eldrich being . the babies are in a different state of "sleep" than the adults and therefore not fully under their control. So maybe we are just baby "wally's" the huske of former humans turned eldrich by a simple handshake (and agreement). my question would then be "what are the other "wally's" diong? How much more chaos is going on in other (unknown to us) parts of the universe?"

He could be in this very room! He could be you! He could be me! He could even be-